Precedents with our highly regarded court system and the expertise and service of our trustee companies has resulted in the Cook Islands as the premier asset protection trust jurisdiction. Political stability, New Zealand currency, and renowned experts give clients comfort and confidence in our services.
Q: What are the most popular asset-protection products on the islands? How can they protect the interests of investors?
A:Trusts continue to be the most popular structure in the Cook Islands. However, in 2012, Foundations were introduced to address demand from clients in China and other civil law countries. The asset protection features found in Cook Islands trusts are also available to Cook Islands foundations. This allows clients a level of certainty in the protection of their assets from worldwide creditors and results in stable long-term planning for themselves and their families.
Q:For Chinese investors, what are the biggest selling points of the Cook Islands?
A:The Cook Islands is ideally located halfway between Asia and North America making it a central point for administration of business and client transactions. Strong legislation provides certainty to clients about their structures and international experts within the trustee companies give comfort to clients that no matter what issues they encounter, their Cook Islands advisors are ready to assist.
Q: What kinds of professional trust and foundation services can Cook Islands provide?
A:The Cook Islands provides a full range of trust and foundation services as well as corporate services (including LLCs) and captive insurance companies. A popular structure for Chinese clients is the Private Trustee Company. This allows a client to own a company in the Cook Islands which acts as the trustee of a Cook Islands trust. The trust then owns a holding company which holds the client assets. This structure provides protection, control, and flexibility. This is an increasingly popular structure as wealthy Chinese grow their global assets.
Q:As an offshore financial center, what are you going to do in terms of balancing the need for more transparency with the need to protect the privacy of clients?
A: Client privacy is a key factor in Cook Islands structures backed by its legislation. As the global compliance environment evolves, so too does the Cook Islands obligations. The Cook Islands is highly regarded for its regulatory framework and this should give clients comfort. While the Cook Islands has a growing network of Tax Information Exchange Agreements, it does not currently have a TIEA with China.
Jennifer A. Davis, Esq.
CEO
Cook Islands Financial Services Development Authority
